


Home for the Holidays

by eilaolympia



Series: percabeth between the pages [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Childhood Friends, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Morning, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:35:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27553951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eilaolympia/pseuds/eilaolympia
Summary: Set after the Titans Curse. What if Percy invited Annabeth to spend Christmas with him and Sally in New York? Fluff extreme. Cuties. Let them just have fun for once.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Series: percabeth between the pages [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2013901
Comments: 4
Kudos: 43





	1. Chapter One- A Family Holiday

**Author's Note:**

> This will be a chaptered fic! I hope to keep on updating as I write, so please excuse any late updates as I am a suffering uni student trying her best. 
> 
> This is a short beginning chapter, but I hope you all enjoy!
> 
> Thanks to my lovely friend, Phoebe for being my beta on all my writing <3

After I had hung up the Iris message with my mother, I felt a surge of excitement ripple through my body. I had told her all about the quest and assured her Annabeth and I had made it back to camp safely- even confiding in her my worry of Annabeth wanting to join the hunters. I couldn’t explain to her why it bothered me so much, and why it turned my stomach upside down the same way facing a new monster did.  
My mum didn’t say much about it, and instead asked me if I knew what Annabeth was doing for christmas. As far as I knew she was planning on staying at camp because it was unlikely she could get back to her dad’s in time and didn’t want to interrupt him from his work again after we rescued her from Mount Tam. My mum was really angry with me all of a sudden and asking me why I hadn’t asked her to come celebrate with us, which to be honest I hadn’t even realized was a possibility. I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask, right?  
Once I had collected myself, I went off to find Annabeth. I headed over to the Athena cabin and knocked on the door hesitantly. A moment passed, filled with a few muffled yells coming from inside, then Malcolm, Annabeth’s brother, opened the door.  
“Hey, Percy.” he said. “I’m gonna take a shot and guess you want to talk to Annabeth?” He grinned at me.  
I chuckled sheepishly. “Yeah, is she here?”  
“Yeah, come on in. I’m just gonna-“ He gestured outside and quickly let himself out, leaving Annabeth and I alone.  
Annabeth was on the far side of the room sitting on her bunk. Around her were tons of papers, books and medical supplies. She was holding a small mirror and trying to clean the cuts on her face from our battle yesterday. She then looked up at me.  
“Hey, you doing okay?” She asked.  
“I think I should be the one asking you that.” I said as I made my way over to her. I attempted to sit beside her on her bed, carefully shifting a few sheets of paper so I didn’t disrupt whatever she had going on. She watched me with her eyebrow raised, until I was comfortably situated.  
“I’m okay.” she said after a moment. She bit her lip and winced, forgetting she had a cut on the bottom of her mouth. She attempted to continue to clean the wound, but seemed to struggle to hold the mirror with one hand and properly attend to all of her wounds.  
“Do you want some help?” I asked her. She furrowed her brow, but nodded. She silently handed me the bottle of hydrogen peroxide and cotton pads and I turned toward her folding my legs under myself. I did my best to start cleaning the wounds on her face when I tilted her chin up and swiped the cotton pad over a small cut on her cheekbone. Annabeth shifted slightly.  
“I wanted to ask you-” I started as I continued to clean her wounds. “I was talking to my mum and we both wanted to ask if you wanted to come and spend christmas with us.” Annabeth’s lips parted and she raised her eyebrows.  
“What?” She asked softly.  
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I just thought because you weren’t going back to your dads and I know you didn’t really have a lot of good christmases before and-“  
“Percy,” Annabeth cut me off, placing her hands over my own that had suddenly dropped back into my lap. “That’s so sweet of you to think of me, but I don’t want to impose on your family holiday with Sally.”  
“No!” I argued. “I mean, we want you there. You’re like family too you know.”  
Her expression softened and a small smile crept onto her face. Her eyes were shining and I realized she looked like she was going to cry. Instead she shot forward and hugged me forcefully. I laughed, but wrapped my arms around her.  
“Alright, Seaweed Brain, I’ll come.”  
My face spread into a grin.  
“I promise it’ll be the best christmas ever.” I told her as I pulled away. “We could go to rockefeller centre and go skating and-“  
“I’ve never been skating.” Annabeth confesses.  
I found myself shocked at her admission, though I guess it wasn’t strange considering she’d spent most of her winters at camp, where we don’t really have anywhere to skate.  
“It’s okay, I’ll teach you. We could even go a few times so you can get the hang of it.”  
“Okay,” She smiled. “So when is Sally coming to get us then?”  
I rubbed the back of my head.  
“Uh, tonight.” I said sheepishly.  
Annabeth smacked my arm lightly.  
“And you’re just telling me this now?” She accused me.  
“So much for being sweet huh?” I muttered.  
“Ugh, you can be so annoying at times.” She said. “Now go, I need to finish this up and pack my things before your mum comes. You should do the same.”  
She pulled me up, taking the supplies out of my hands and tried to shoo me out of the cabin. Before I pulled open the door, she stopped me and hugged me again.  
“Thank you, Percy.”


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the late upload-Uni and personal things have been getting in the way! Hope you enjoy :)

Once we had finished a nutritious dinner of pizza, my mum showed Annabeth down the hall of our apartment to the bathroom so she could shower. I decided then would be the best time to make up my bed on the couch. I knew my mum would scold me for being a bad host if I didn’t let Annabeth take my bed so I figured I would avoid that lecture at all costs.  
As I started to arrange a blanket for myself on the couch, my mum stepped into the living room.  
“What are you doing?” She asked me.  
“Well I thought Annabeth should have my bed so i’m taking the couch.”  
My mum screwed up her eyebrows and let out a small laugh.  
“I just figured you two would just share if i’m being honest.” She shrugged.  
I paused.  
“What?”  
“Do you not sleep beside each other anyway on quests?”  
I was floored. I mean, yeah Annabeth and I normally gravitated toward each other when it came to sleeping on quests. I thought back to the summer after we had sailed past the sirens in the sea of monsters. Annabeth had gotten a glimpse at her fatal flaw and we had spent the rest of the trip taking turns sleeping with our head on the others lap. We didn’t talk about it much, but it was sort of an unspoken agreement that we both had.  
“I mean, I guess, but that was a quest so it's different.” I justified lamely.  
“Percy, you’re both friends, I don’t get what the big deal is.” My mum said.  
“There is a big deal! I-“ I stopped noticing Annabeth was standing at the edge of the room. I tried to soften my voice.  
“Do you need anything?” I asked.  
“Can I borrow a sweater?” Annabeth asked quietly. I tried to ignore my mum smirking as I led Annabeth into my room, pulling an old swimming hoodie from my closet and handing it to her.  
“Thanks,” Annabeth said. She pulled the sweater over her head and pushed her arms through the sleeves. The sweater fit her everywhere but the sleeves, which hung down over her hands. I felt my cheeks get significantly warmer.  
“Uh, so you can have my bed, I’m going to sleep on the couch so there’s no worries.” Annabeth looked puzzled at my announcement.  
“Are you sure? she inquired. There was an unrecognizable tone to her voice.  
“Yeah, It's not too bad and besides, you need the sleep.” I assured her.  
She nodded slowly, but bit her lip. “Alright,”  
“Okay, goodnight then.” I started to step out of the room, before grabbing a pair of pj pants and a t-shirt off of the chair at my desk.  
“Goodnight, Percy.”

I woke sometime later to someone shaking my shoulder. I grunted in response.  
“Percy?” I heard Annabeth whisper.  
“Hmm?” I opened my eyes to see her standing above me, a concerned look on her face. Her face was streaked with tears, jarring me awake.  
“Are you okay?”  
“I-“ she started before tucking her hair behind her ear. The newly changed grey streak in her hair fell forward back into her face. “Can you come stay with me?”  
Considering how scared she looked I decided I wasn’t going to let her down, no matter the teasing I was going to get from my mum in return. I nodded and took her hand as we went back into my room.  
We both crawled under the covers, facing each other. Annabeth sighed.  
“Was it a nightmare?” I asked stupidly. She nodded in response.  
“Everything on Mount Tam- I don’t want to think about it, but-“ She stopped.  
“I know what you mean.” I told her. “I worried myself sick looking for you.”  
She stared at me for a moment, unmoving. “I know it was a stupid move.” She admitted slowly.  
“Chiron didn’t let me out of camp.” I confessed to her. “I talked to my mum because I didn't know what to do and I wanted to go after them to find you, so I left.”  
“I still can’t believe you didn’t think I was dead.”  
“I couldn’t.” I paused before I continued. “There was this one night we were camping out under the stars and I offered to take first watch, but Thalia wasn’t sleeping and we talked. She noticed I was on edge I guess.”  
Annabeth managed a small chuckle. “You? On edge?”  
“Ha ha.” I deadpanned, but smiled nonetheless. “But anyway, I was fiddling with riptide and looking at the constellations and it just felt… off?” I felt my mouth get dry as I tried to finish my story. “I missed having you there I guess.”  
“You guess?” Annabeth raised an eyebrow.  
“I know. I know I did.” She smiled at me softly.  
“It’s just- you know when we were on our quest in the summer and you slept with your head on my lap?” Annabeth nodded. “I just kind of missed it you know?”  
She smiled sadly. “Yeah, I know.”  
“I’m sorry we weren’t there fast enough, I-“ Annabeth cut me off by putting her hand over my mouth.  
“Hey, no apologies okay, Seaweed Brain?” She removed her hand and ran it through the grey streak in my hair. “Besides, I think we’re even now.”  
“Good to know.” I laughed. “maybe we should try to sleep then?”  
She nods and before she says anything else, she slides closer toward me laying her head underneath mine. I pull my arms around her, unsure.  
Annabeth mumbled something into my shirt, and nudged me. I decided not to ask and just hummed in response, letting my eyes flutter shut.

When I woke in the morning, I was overwhelmed by the scent of pancakes. I noticed I was now alone as Annabeth must have gotten up. I was glad to be alone in this moment, but groaned when I realized she definitely caught me drooling again.  
The sound of laughter echoed from the kitchen, enticing me to get out of bed. I hissed as the cold air touched my skin, and my feet tested the wooden floors. I made my way out of my room and down the hall to the kitchen where my mum stood at the stove flipping pancakes. Annabeth sat at the kitchen table a steaming mug in front of her.  
I immediately blushed when I saw her, remembering falling asleep with her last night and the fact she was still wearing my hoodie. Her blonde hair fell over her shoulders in curls that glowed in the rays of morning sun that poured in from the window. When she smiled at me I nearly forgot what I was doing, and fell into a chair across from her clumsily.  
“Good morning, Seaweed Brain.” she said.  
“Morning,” I said, my voice thick with sleep.  
“Coffee?” My mum asked.  
“Please.” I rested my head on the table.  
Annabeth ruffled my hair and let out a soft laugh. “You really aren’t a morning person, huh?”  
I grunted in response.  
My mum laughed and I felt her press a kiss to the top of my head as she put the mug of coffee in front of me- the smell convincing my head to rise.  
“I don’t know how you manage to get him up when you two are on quests.” My mum said to Annabeth.  
“Oh, it’s definitely a feat, that’s for sure.”  
“Hey!” I interjected. “I’m not that bad.”  
My mum and Annabeth both stared at me with eyebrows raised. They exchanged a look and once again fell into laughter. I felt a surge of warmth seeing the two of them getting along so well.  
“Whatever helps you sleep, sleeping beauty.” Annabeth smirked over her cup.  
I stuck my tongue out at her before I took a sip of my coffee. The bitter taste woke up my brain a little more.

After a breakfast of blue pancakes, per Annabeth’s request, my mum suggested we go skating. She claimed she wanted to meet her “friend”, Paul, from her writing seminar, and asked us to come.  
“Do you think they’re dating?” I asked Annabeth as we sat on my bed, while my mum finished some work before we left.  
“Your mum and Paul?” She asked.  
I nodded. “I mean, I kind of Iris messaged her when I was at camp and they seemed to be having… fun.”  
“Gods, Percy! You-“  
“No! Not that.”  
Her face went from horrified, to calm again.  
“I mean they were sitting in the kitchen drinking wine.”  
“Oh, yeah they’re dating.” She said matter of factly.  
“How can you tell that?”  
Annabeth rolled her eyes as if the answer were obvious. “Wine is not a ‘just friends’ drink to adults.”  
“But, Dionysus-“ I stopped before I continued.  
Annabeth put her hand on my knee. “I know this stuff kind of makes you nervous after, you know-“ She didn’t say his name. “But, your mum seems happy.”  
“I never understood she wasn’t before.” I said guiltily. “I mean I was clueless about it before.”  
“Percy, I don’t think she would do that again. You’re safe and know the truth now.” She looked at me, her grey eyes soft. “You can meet him today, and I’ll be there too.” She reached out for my hand. I would have blushed if I wasn’t already so nervous. “I promise, if anything seems wrong, we’ll figure it out.”  
Her voice was even, the way it was when she had thought out her plans. There was no hint of uncertainty, only compassion. I liked how she said we would figure it out, as if we were a package deal. Just then, a knock sounded on my bedroom door and we sprang apart abruptly.  
My mum poked her head in, to find Annabeth and I sitting awkwardly on my bed. She looked like she was trying not to laugh.  
“You guys ready to go? Paul is here.”  
I glanced at Annabeth. “Yeah, we’re good.”  
We headed out into the hall to the closet and I grabbed my backpack, my skateboard strapped to the front of it. “Do you have everything?” I asked Annabeth.  
She looked a little nervous. “I think. I’m not really sure what I need for skating.”  
She was dressed in jeans, a cream coloured knitted sweater, a pair of boots, and her light blue coat overtop of it all.  
I passed her a grey hat and gloves from a bin of mine in the closet. “You may get cold.”  
She smiled appreciatively and put the hat on, the grey emphasizing her eyes, and the new grey streak that matched my own.  
“Percy, you’re not really bringing your skateboard are you?” My mum chided me.  
“Mum, i’m not going to do anything stupid, I swear.”  
She looked at me uncertainly, then to Annabeth. “Just, behave in front of Paul… please?”  
“Don’t worry, Sally.” Annabeth said. “I’ll keep an eye on him.” She nudged my shoulder with hers. My mum smiled calmly and ushered us out the door. 

Paul was waiting in our lobby, shifting between his two feet. Annabeth cast me a glance as we approached him. I felt her squeeze my arm reassuringly.  
“Hi, Paul!” My mum greeted him, her cheeks flushed with colour.  
“Sally!” He smiled brilliantly, bringing her in for a hug. He was a handsome guy I guess you’d say. His salt and pepper hair made him look distinguished and wise.  
“And this must be Percy.” He said looking at me.  
“Hey, nice to meet you.” I said, then looked at Annabeth. “This is my best friend, Annabeth, from camp. She’s staying with us for the holidays.”  
“Nice to meet you!” she greeted him and reached out her hand to shake his.  
Paul looked pleased by this and shook her hand. “A pleasure to meet you both.” He smiled. “Are you all ready to go?”  
My mum nodded, and moved to hold Paul’s arm when he held it out like a gentleman. They started ahead.  
I held my arm out to Annabeth and smirked. “May I offer you an escort?”  
She rolled her eyes, but laughed anyway. “You’re a dork.” She told me and took my arm.  
We only stayed holding arms for a block before I was struck with an idea. As my mum and Paul walked a little ahead of us, talking animatedly, I said. “You want to learn how to skateboard?”  
Annabeth nearly stopped in her tracks. “Skating and skateboarding?” she raised her eyebrows. “You’re trying to kill me.”  
I laughed. “No, I swear. I won’t leave your side.”  
She narrowed her eyes at me, but nodded.  
I unstrapped my skateboard from my backpack and placed it on the ground. “Okay, so what you want to do is put one foot up on the board,” I watched as she hesitantly took my instruction, and I reached my hand out to steady her. She grabbed my hand.  
“And then you want to use your foot on the ground to generate speed.”  
Annabeth slowly started to move her foot, moving us forward. I kept my hand in hers, as she gripped it tight.  
“When you feel ready put both feet on the board and you’ll move forward.” I told her.  
She propelled forward generating speed, and then put both feet on the board as I jogged beside her still holding her hand. She let out a “Whoop” in delight.  
Just then my mum and Paul looked back watching as I ran beside an ecstatic Annabeth. My mum had the biggest smile on her face.  
“You’re doing great, honey!” She yelled.  
Annabeth’s smile grew into a grin 

Annabeth and I took turns riding my skateboard as we headed down to rockefeller centre. We were both on the board now, Annabeth behind me, holding on to my waist as I moved us forward.  
I found myself so lost in the feeling of the cold wind freezing my face, and the warmth of Annabeth’s arms around me. The sound of her laughter after all we’d been through recently was what I was convinced nectar would taste like if it were auditory; a sound good enough to heal.  
“Percy, watch out!” Annabeth shouted.  
I stared straight ahead where we were about to slam into my mum and Paul. I immediately stuck my foot out.  
“Hold on!” I yelled to her before I tripped and sent us flying sideways into a snowbank.  
I was completely prepared for Annabeth to be furious at me, and found myself surprised when she burst out laughing.  
Her eyelashes had snowflakes attached to them and her hat was tilted on her head. We were both covered in snow, sitting on the ground limbs tangled in a heap. I couldn’t help it and cracked up.  
My mum and Paul had stopped and were staring at us incredulously.  
“I look away for one moment.” I hear my mum mutter as Paul begins to chuckle with us.  
A smile spread onto my mum’s face and she began to laugh and reached her hands out to help us up. She immediately went fussing over Annabeth, dusting snow off of her and asking if she was okay. Annabeth assured her over and over again that she was fine, and that she was expecting to fall at some point today, just maybe not so soon.


End file.
